Oil Drilling in Northwest Ohio

Two workers stand atop the scaffolding above an oil well of the Cygnet oil pool in Bloom Township, Wood County, Ohio, circa 1885.

ODNR Division of Geological Survey

Oil derricks once covered this field in North Baltimore, Ohio.

ODNR Division of Geological Survey

A horse-drawn cart is seen at an oil well at Bradner, Ohio, as a train passes in the background.

ODNR Division of Geological Survey

This oil well was on the Kyle family farm on Garden and Holloway Roads in Toledo, Ohio, circa July 22, 1937.

Blade File Photo

This photo oil shooting from the Klondike well at Ironville ran in the Toledo Blade on Nov. 23, 1936, for a story on its 35 years of production. The "go devil" that set off the nitroglycerin was dropped by Joseph E. Martin, pictured here as a boy and who later became a Toledo firefighter.

BLADE FILE PHOTO

Not much ever changed at the Klondike oil well, shown here in 1947. It was thought to be the second oldest oil well in the state of Ohio and jump-started Toledo's oil industry.

Toledo Blade File Photo

"Old Klondike," pictured here in 1947, became an eyesore for neighboring Gulf Oil Corp., which owned the land but not the mineral rights.

TOLEDO BLADE FILE PHOTO

Men attend to a pump at an oil well in Rudolph, Ohio, in November 1952.

Toledo Blade File Photo

A man points at a derrick at a Britton oil field in Lenawee County, Mich., circa July 1961.

Toledo Blade File Photo

This oil well in Waterville, Ohio, shown on Jan. 11, 1983, was capped because its closeness to the Maumee River raised pollution concerns.

TOLEDO BLADE FILE PHOTO

Ron Davis works at Toledo oil wells on Aug. 21, 1990.

TOLEDO BLADE FILE PHOTO

A sign on the outskirts of Cygnet, Ohio, notes the area is "rich in oil history." Northwest Ohio is in a geological area known as the Lima-Indiana Field, characterized by Trenton limestone. It forms a broad, 185-mile arc across Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Allen, and Van Wert counties in Ohio, and extends into northeastern Indiana. The first major field discovered in North America, it runs from almost Toledo to Indianapolis.

The oil pump jack on the property of Ivan Woodbury on Liberty Hi Road in Bowling Green is still in operation in 2011. Oil drilling began here in the early 1900s by Woodbury's grandfather, Alva Hartman.